564 GRASSES AND CLOVERS 



or dryness of the season or soil, another species often succeeds. 

 Moreover, no single plant will continue to grow and provide 

 food for stock from spring to autumn ; but by judicious selection 

 of a number- of different species according to the earliness or 

 lateness of their growth, a continuous production of forage can 

 be obtained during many months of the year. 



In addition to the principles previously indicated for guidance 

 in the choice of species, the agriculturist should determine the 

 species of grasses which grow in the best meadows and pastures 

 on similar soils in the neighbourhood, and give prominence to 

 these in any mixture he intends to use, especially where the 

 pastures are to be permanent. 



It is very necessary, however, to point out that the practices 

 of sowing sweepings of the hay-loft, or seeds obtained from a 

 specially-saved crop of hay from the best meadows of the farm, 

 are both very unreliable, although in some cases they have led 

 to good results. Neither of these methods provides seeds of all 

 the good plants of the meadow. Investigations we have carried 

 out in regard to the composition of such home-produced mixtures 

 have invariably shown that the latter contain the seeds of only a 

 small number of species of grasses — just those which were ripe 

 at the time the hay was cut — and frequently a number of common 

 weed seeds ; all the early grasses are missed, as their seeds have 

 been shed, and the seeds of the best late grasses are rarely 

 obtained, as the meadow is usually mown before they are 

 ripe. 



The following prescriptions are not intended to be slavishly 

 copied, but may be taken as illustrative of the principles laid 

 down. The farmer should use his own judgment in regard to 

 the amount and nature of each plant used, bearing in mind their 

 particular individual qualities in regard to durability, habit of 

 growth, adaptability to special soils, and other points mentioned 

 at the beginning of the chapter (see also Chapter xl.). 



